Ahh! Ahsoka starts tomorrow! Cannot wait!

Just wanted to say thanks to all those who have followed and favorited the story so far, and also those who left reviews. Definitely means a lot. If you like what you're reading, let me know! And if you don't, well darn, but also let me know what you think I'm doing wrong. Any feedback is welcome.

Enjoy.

Chapter Six

The Kathound's Claw docked with the Vantage, an Acclamator class star cruiser, above Kashykkk, and Captain Wolffe and his so called 'Wolf Pack,' came aboard.

"Word is you have a bug problem," Captain Wolffe said, as he saluted Aedan and Kyra, and then nodded to Hoppie and Cobalt Squad.

"That we do, Captain," Aedan said, "Welcome aboard. We've heard of your battles and look forward to working with you."

Captain Wolffe laughed. "My battles don't quite measure up to the present company's. Talk of your exploits is quickly spreading, and now everyone wants to fight alongside Aedan the Warrior, and Kyra the…" he paused. "Nevermind," he said, shaking his head. "What's the mission?"

Aedan and Hoppie filled him in on the particulars, and soon they were on their way, the Vantage following in tow a few minutes behind them.

The 'Claw exited hyperspace and approached the orange world of Colla V. A jedi hadn't set foot on this planet in decades. And any other envoys attempting to deal with the bugs were normally eaten without warning.

"So, you're sure you know where to go?" Hoppie asked from one of the seats behind the navigator's chair.

"Yes, Lieutenant," Kyra said dryly, "Craddosk, the moron, had everything, and I mean everything spelled out for him. We have the coordinates, the transmission codes, and even which hangar to go into."

Hoppie held up his hands, "Alright, alright, just making sure. But what about the 104th?"

Kyra shook her head, clearly exasperated, so Aedan stepped in. "We'll enter the hangar, just as this ship is scheduled to, and a minute later the 104th will send down its gunships and attack the front of the facility."

"A diversion," Link said.

"Exactly."

Hoppie pursed his lips, "I like it," he said, "So what are these Colicoids like."

"I've actually never seen one," Aedan said, "But the stories…are not pretty. They are vicious, without remorse, and would eat you before even speaking to you."

"Seriously?"

Aedan nodded.

"So, you're serving me up as lunch?" He asked, "That's what we're doing?"

"No one's getting eaten. Besides, you have your plastoid armor."

Hoppie banged on his white armor, "This can stop a butter knife, not a giant bug bite."

"Hoppie, you'll be fine."

He shook his head, "As long as I'm with her, I'm fine."

The closer they came to their destination, the more tense the cockpit grew. Entering the upper atmosphere seemed to spike everyone's heart rate and breathing in unison. Aedan, himself, had to close his eyes for a moment and take a deep breath. It had all led to this. The war was ending, and now all this merry band of soldiers had to do was take out the auxiliary threat, and peace could be restored. The end was so close he felt he could reach out and grasp it.

"There's the facility," Kyra said, shaking him from his thoughts. In front of them, a white stone entrance was built into the side of a rocky formation. The opening was massive, big enough for an ATTE to fit through.

"We just fly through the front entrance?" Hoppie asked.

"No, the hangar is on top of the plateau. There should be an entrance there." Kyra said, as she flew up an over the edge of the rock formation. And within seconds all could see two bay doors opening up in the middle of the plateau. Kyra guided the ship down into the wide opening and a huge hangar spread out underneath them.

"Land in one of the corners," Aedan said.

"Roger that," Kyra said, and gently brought the ship down into one of the open bays. "And would you look at that," she said gesturing to a sleek black and red fighter.

"Sa'kard's ship."

"Yep. He's here. I can feel him."

Aedan turned around in the co-pilot chair, "Alright, Wolf Pack, you're with me, and we're finding these new droids and destroying them."

"Search and destroy," Comet said, "I like it."

"Can it, Sergeant," Captain Wolffe barked.

"Kyra, Hoppie, and Cobalt Squad will locate the hostages, and get them back here."

"And how are we getting over six-hundred Mon Calamarians and Wookies out of here?" Link asked.

Aedan smirked, "On the Vantage of course." The troopers nodded in agreement. "Once here, the gunships will ferry the slaves to the ship. Luckily enough, there were minimal anti-air guns or turbolasers."

"Everyone understand?"

"Ooh-rah!" The Wolfpack shouted

A beep sounded from the dash. "The Vantage just exited hyperspace and is descending rapidly," Kyra said.

"Alright Team," Aedan said, "Get ready."

Aedan, Kyra, Hoppie, Link, and Wolffe joined the rest of Cobalt and Wolf squads in the cargo room next to boarding ramp exit. Minutes passed and then Rook spoke up, "So how are we going to know when to move?"

Aedan rolled his shoulders back, and cracked his neck to either side. Kyra, smirking, began tying her hair into a tight pony tail. "You'll know," she said.

All the troopers put their helmets on, and double checked their blaster configurations. A distant explosion could be heard. The ship shook, while the entire building trembled.

"Right," Rook said, "Got it."

Hoppie moved up to the exit ramp, "Time to go to work," he said.

Kyra gasped, clutched her chest, and then put one hand against the bulkhead to steady herself.

Aedan was instantly by her side, "What is it?" he asked. Hoppie was on her other side.

She didn't respond. Her eyes were scrunched shut; face twisted into a grimace. "Kyra?" Aedan asked again.

Finally, she let out a breath, and came out of it, eyes fluttering open. "Mace Windu is hurt, maybe even dead. And the force just…" she shook her head.

"Just what?"

"Shifted. Changed. I don't know."

Aedan, himself, sank into the force seeking answers but all he found was chaos. He flinched, and opened his eyes. "What could it be?"

"I don't know."

"Does it have to do with the mission?"

"No," she said adamantly. "We are supposed to be here, that much I know."

The tension among the clones lessened dramatically. "So, we still carry out the mission?" Captain Wolffe asked.

Kyra locked eyes with Aedan, "We have to. No matter what's happening, we have to take out Sa'kard and his army. And we have to rescue the hostages."

Aedan nodded back, and then looked at the troopers. "You heard her, Men. Let's get this done," he said, as distant explosions could still be heard, and were picking up in intensity.

The two Jedi walked to the boarding ramp hatch. The Wolfpack lining up behind Aedan, while Hoppie and Cobalt squad lined up behind.

Aedan raised his hand and rested it against the hatch lever. He closed his eyes, and whispered a prayer to the infinite energy field that had always watched over him. "Please be with her."

He opened his eyes, seeing that Kyra was staring at him. "So, I'll see you soon then," he said.

"I'll see you soon."

He nodded, "Here goes nothing," he said, and pulled the lever down, the hatch began opening, and the boarding ramp began lowering.

They moved quickly out of the 'Claw, and along the hangar wall. While Kyra knew exactly where the slaves were, Aedan and his team would have to do some searching. Without a word, the two groups split off. Aedan's team taking the first exit out of the hangar, while Kyra's unit continued down the hangar wall.

Once out of the hangar the corridors changed in decor and design. The only light came from blue-lit pillars that marked each doorway or hallway intersection. A smoky haze filled the corridors, which would limit the sight-distance of a normal human. But there were no normal humans here. The troopers had advanced optics in their helmets, and Aedan had the force.

They pushed forward through the slight fog, Aedan's senses operating on overdrive as he no desire to run into any of the colicoids in the base.

A nudge from the force told him they were about to do just that. He quickly dipped into a room to their right, the durasteel door sliding shut behind the ten-man team just as Aedan felt four colicoids round the corner in haste. The smoked windows of the durasteel doors let Aedan and the Wolfpack see out into the hallways as the bugs passed by. However, Aedan wished that he wasn't given such a sight, as the grotesque form of four colicoids filled his vision. Four short legs extended out from a 'C' shaped insect body, where the abdomen faced slightly frontwards and upwards and then the upper part of the body curled around over top of the exposed stomach. Two long arms ending in wicked pincers jutted out from the shoulder joints. And atop the body sat the vicious head, with razor sharp looking mandibles, the lower jaw jutting forward, and tendrils extending from the top and bottom of the head.

Aedan felt a shiver go up his spine. The troopers around him, all battle-hardened soldiers who had seen unspeakable horrors, were completely unsettled by these monstrosities. He could feel their fear. In their countless encounters, never had they seen anything like these colicoids.

They looked evil, plain and simple. When the four creatures passed by, all the occupants of the room let out a breath. "Organic Droidekas, that's what they are. Rollies with pincers instead of blasters. I think I'm with Lieutenant Hoppie," Wolffe said, "This place sucks."

"Well, let's finish the mission so we can get out of here," Aedan responded.

"Um, General," Comet said, "You may want to take a look at this."

Aedan turned away from the door and saw they were in a much larger laboratory than he had originally assumed. But what was in the laboratory was far more unnerving. Three massive Colicoids hung in suspended animation within giant transparisteel tubes. But these bugs were not like the ones that passed by in the corridor. These were at least twice the size, and stood more upright like an acklay.

"What on Kamino is that?" Wolffe said.

Aedan shook his head, "I don't think I want to know, or worry about that at the moment. Let's focus on the mission. Sinker, can you slice into the terminal and find the droids we're looking for."

"You got it, General," the trooper said, and plugged his datapad up to one of the terminals. After a few minutes, he looked up. "This place is massive, but I think I found them in a room only about two hundred meters from here."

"Good work, Sergeant. I'll still take point, you just direct me."

"Roger that, General."

Aedan reached out with the force, and sensed that no other bugs were nearby as most were being deployed to deal with the invading clone army at the front entrance. He led the team out of the lab, and back into the corridor. They quietly moved through the halls, around a few twists and turns and finally came to set of double doors.

"This is it?" He asked.

Sinker checked his datapad map, and then nodded.

Aedan hit the door controls, and the entryway opened up, and the team walked inside. Aedan's stomach sank, and cold tendrils snaked down his spine. Hundreds of bulbous red optics stared at them, but at the moment they were all unlit. They were Magnaguards alright, but far more advanced. Still tall, and humanoid in shape, but with a bit of a curve to their form. The eyes and face more rounded, giving a more bug like feature to them. Electrostaffs still strapped to their back, blasters still mounted on their shoulder, but wrapped around their waste was another device, one that looked very similar to an apparatus on the droideka.

"Sinker, are they operational?"

The trooper accessed his datapad, scanning the mechanical battalion in front of them. After a dreadful sixty seconds, he finally responded, "They don't appear to be on-line. Nor have they been activated, but my scans can't decipher their battle-readiness."

Aedan nodded, "The belt like device, what is that?"

Sinker slowly moved closer to one, and inspected it more closely.

"It's a shield generator, like on the rollies."

"Kriff," Aedan said. "Alright, Troops, wire this room and the entire army for demolition."

Without a word, the commando's scattered. Captain Wolffe, Comet, and Boost, began moving towards the droids, while Sinker tapped into the main computer terminal. The rest of the squad headed to the far end of the room where a wall of power generators stood, dozens of power cables running from the generators to the terminals, work stations, and the support apparatus hanging above the magnaguards.

Sinker began chuckling to himself, and then it turned into cackling. "Sergeant," Captain Wolffe shouted, "Care to share what's so amusing."

He shrugged, still typing away at the terminal, "I just," laughter engulfed him again, the whole squad now was staring at him. "I just uploaded a virus into their computer system, its wiping out all data, eating away at everything they've had stored here regarding the magnaguards." He lifted his hands from the keyboard, and looked at the captain. "Or you could say I planted a bug in the bug's computer system.

Muffled laughter could be heard all throughout the room, from each one of the battle-hardened commandos. Even Aedan found it amusing. This was working. They were doing it.

Then a ripple through the force.

"Take cover," Aedan shouted, "We've got incoming." The troops scattered instantly, all nine of them getting to the sides of the room, and getting behind anything that could serve as a barricade. Aedan stood in the middle of the room, right in front of the rows of droids, appearing as if he was leading the Prime's into battle. He stood there, and waited.

The double doors to the room opened and in walked the hulking form of Salas Sa'kard. Same menacing stare. Same weapons even. But his helmet and armor were different. His helmet instead of ending below his jaw line had an extended neck protector, so much so that ended down around his clavicle area, like the Mandalorian armor of the Old Republic era. And his armor had been upgraded. There didn't appear to be any open sections like his previous suit. The joints were covered with overlapping plates, so no portion of him was left exposed.

Behind him were ten of the advanced magnaguards. These however, were fully operational, and spread out in line alongside the armor clad Gen'Dai. Aedan could feel the waves of anger coming from him. He was most displeased with his minion's failure.

"Prime Magnaguards," Salas said, in that deep voice of his. "The ultimate combat droid. Fastest processing units in the galaxy, augmented blasters, and now…shield generators." Blue energy shields sprouted around each of the ten Prime magnaguards flanking Sa'kard. "You're still one step behind me, foolish Jedi. You just never learn."

"Actually, I do." Without moving his hands, his lightsaber flew off his belt, activated, and then took off spinning.

"No!" Sa'Kard shouted.

The whirlwind lightsaber zipped behind him down the rows of unshielded magnaguards, the spinning blade slicing through dormant droid's torsos, their upper and lower halves toppling to the ground.

"Slaughter them!" Sa'Kard yelled.

Aedan dashed to the side, while calling his lightsaber back to his hand before it could cut through the whole battalion. As the hilt hit his hand, he turned and began parrying the incoming blasterfire from the Primes. His stomach sank, as he saw shield generators sprout to life around the tall combat droids.

The commando's, expertly trained, and severely seasoned, had already opened fire, but the blaster rounds just pinged off the shields. Aedan had already deflected over a dozen shots into one magnaguard, but still the shield held. The shields couldn't hold out forever, could they?

"These will keep you busy for a while," Sa'Kard said. "But if you'll excuse me, I think I'll go visit your padawan."

Aedan's face showed horror, and he could sense Sa'Kard smiling in mirth as he turned and walked out the door. As soon as the doors shut, Aedan couldn't help but smile. "You have no idea who you're messing with." The humor was short lived as now the line of ten prime magnaguards advanced forward.

"I'll draw their fire," he yelled, "Each flank focus firepower on a single droid. And when I topple them over, their shields should short out, and they'll be vulnerable."

"Copy that, General," Commander Wolffe said, and immediately both flanks began concentrating their fire on a single droid. A full ten seconds of shooting went by, and the shield held.

Aedan knew it was up to him now, so just like with droidekas, he'd topple the magnaguard over and the shield would shortcircuit as it tried to repel the ground.

Aedan sent a force push towards one droid, sending it sprawling to the ground, but it was instantly on its feet again, the shield still intact.

"Uh oh," he said out loud.

"May want to try a different tactic," Corporal Comet said.

Aedan grit his teeth, picked up that same magnaguard, help him up high, and then sent him plummeting to the ground, and then held him there with the force. The shield didn't so much as short out, as it just turned off. So they fixed that flaw. But they didnt plan on a jedi continuing to hold them down, rendering them still vulnerable.

The elite commando's, not needing any instructions, opened fire on the unprotected magnaguard, riddling it with blaster rounds within seconds.

"One down…" Aedan said.

"Nine more to go," Wolffe finished.

Aedan only had time to take out two more droids in that same fashion as he held both of them down, and the troopers finished them off. The other seven advanced and began gaining ground on the troops who stood no chance in close quarters with the prime. So, he summoned force energy, picked all of them up and flung them at the back wall. One of them hit hard and its shields couldn't withstand the damage so it was smashed to pieces. The other six managed to get up from the toss, and then the durasteel feet of the Primes changed. Flaps extended to the sides of their heels and then an audible pulse echoed from the floor.

Aedan let loose a robust force push towards one, only to see that it's upper body barely moved, and its lower body stayed rooted to the ground.

"Holy Kriff," Aedan said, "They've adapted. They're magnetically sealed to the floor."

"What do we do?" Wolffe asked.

Aedan's head moved side to side, trying to find some way to stop them, but he found nothing, and the mechanical menaces marched on, their feet making loud clanging noises as their magnetized extremities engaged the durasteel floor. "Get behind me, but focus all your fire on one Magnaguard, try and overload the shield. I'll do my best to hold them off."

"With electrostaffs, blasters, shields, and immunity to your force powers, you won't stand a chance."

"Feel free to inform me when you've come up with a better idea," Aedan yelled, but wasnt able to hear an answer as the Primes opened fire. He blocked and parried every shot, becoming a whirlwind of movement. He could not keep this up for long, and they were running out of room as they slowly backed up. Finally, the Clones' target had fallen to the onslaught, its shield overwhelmed and blinked off. But it took far too long, and with six left they wouldn't have that kind of time.

"Still no spark of genius, Master Jedi? I thought you bunch were supposed to be wise ones," Wolffe asked, firing his blaster worthlessly.

"Typically, yes, but with me…wait," he paused. "Spark. Wolffe, you're the genius. Get everyone up onto the catwalk at the back of the room."

The clone captain glanced back, "We'll be sitting porgs up there."

"Just do it, and hurry."

"I hope you know what you're doing."

Aedan backed up as well, and once he saw the clones were off the floor, he cut through the metal steps leading up to the catwalk, severing its connection to the metal ground, and resumed parrying. Sinking deep into the Force he asked for help, this was going to be tricky. Using the Force, he grabbed the power cables and tried yanking them out of the ground, but they wouldn't budge. He was forced to concentrate on blocking the laser blasts, but gathered more energy within himself.

Come on, Aedan, it's now or never.

He grabbed at the cables and pulled, letting out a roar as they ripped out of the ground like a nest of angry, electrified snakes. He Force leaped up onto the catwalk, and then guided the sparking cables into the metal ground at the Magnaguard's powerful electrical current traveled from the ground and into the droids, instantly shorting out their shields, some even toppled to the ground.

The clones, always prepared, opened fire at the now vulnerable droids, dropping them all in vicious volley of blasterfire. Within seconds the threat was neutralized, and Aedan let out breath.

The Wolfpack began howling in victory, and Aedan saluted them all.

"Thought we were goners there, General," Wolffe said.

Aedan shook his head, "So did I. Come on, let's finish the job, and rid the galaxy of these machines."

"You got it. Come on, Wolfpack, you heard the man. Get moving."

"Ooh-rah!" They chanted and got back to the mission.